Running with the Bullies - Part 1

 

A sweet old girl we met at the Silverwood Costume Contest

I'm sure those of you who regularly use Facebook have seen its algorithm at work; you do a quick search for a new pair of Crocs, and your feed is inundated with related content, from links to rubber clogs made by Temu to videos of alligators crawling over golf course fences to memes like this:

A very important distinction

My feed is a mix of all sorts of things, but it's mainly shopping links to snarky t-shirts and videos of Bull Terriers and Malinois dogs doing all sorts of ridiculous things.  It's not too surprising, then, that about six weeks ago, while I was performing my nightly scrolling, I ran across a post advertising the Bull Terrier Club of America's (BTCA's) annual dog show, called Silverwood.  Silverwood moves around each year, the better to allow folks from different parts of the country to attend, but this year, it was going to be in Kingsport, TN, just four hours south of us.  When I realized Kingsport was also just a short drive from Johnson City, TN, where Uncle Bill, Aunt Mary Alice, and Kathryn live (great uncle, great aunt, and first cousin once removed), we jumped at the opportunity.  A whole convention center full of bullies PLUS getting to spend time with some of our favorite folks?  That's a no brainer for us!

In looking through the Silverwood schedule of events, we wanted to ensure we made it for Friday evening's costume contest, so we both took Friday off from work.  After dropping the girls at a new doggie daycare/boarding option in Lexington (Zoe, even at 6 years old is an absolute maniac, and Bea isn't super great around other dogs, so they weren't invited on this adventure), we finished packing up the rig and started south on the 75.  Our original plan was to stop at the Visitor Center at Cumberland Gap National Historic Park and use their picnic tables for lunch, but we took a bit longer than expected filling the rig's water tank, so we got hungry before we made it there.  Instead, we stopped in the parking lot at the weigh station/truck haven to eat our homemade pimento cheese sandwiches.

Unlike at a traditional rest area, the truck haven didn't seem to have picnic tables.

That's okay - we travel with our own!

(That's Chris' homemade sourdough loaf we're using for sammies.)

Zelda and Aubie hanging out with their big rig counterparts

We cleaned up lunch, then got back on the interstate, soon exiting the freeway for smaller state and county roads.  Heading through Corbin (birthplace of KFC), we made it to Cumberland Gap before too long, and we had fun driving through the tunnel (no worries on us fitting through this one - larger vehicles were rolling through without issue).

Fall colors were starting to appear on some trees, but it was still primarily green

Plenty of clearance!

Once we made it out of the tunnel, we found that we'd entered an entirely different state, and only a few miles down the road, we were unexpectedly in a third!

Howdy, volunteer state!

Wait, what?  When did we get here?

The border is all kinds of swirly through this area, so we weren't lost, despite our best efforts.

As we approached our fourth hour of driving, we turned south, crossing back into Tennessee and making it to our home base for the weekend, Flanagan Brothers Bierworks, in Kingsport.  When looking at accommodations for this trip, we figured that since the drive was relatively short, and we'd be making it in the daylight, we could take the rig and save some money on renting a hotel.  In order to still be nearby (the better to attend the maximum amount of bully festivities), we searched for options in Kingsport proper, and we were excited to see a Harvest Host at a local brewery (I wrote about Harvest Hosts in this blog, if you want to read more).  It turned out that not only was Flanagan Bros in a good location for our needs, but the staff was friendly and kind, and the beer was excellent as well!

Once we backed the rig in and set things up, we strolled into the brewery for some adult beverages.

That's my nitro Irish stout on the left and Chris' ESB on the right -

both were exceptional.

After a few more pints and tasters, it was time to head to our early afternoon entertainment - the Silverwood Costume Contest!  As you might imagine, we took around 800 pictures, and while I've tried to whittle them down to the absolute best, I don't think too many folks are going to complain about an excessive amount of shots of dogs in costumes (if you're not into that sort of thing, this might just not be the right blog for you...).  Time to start the madness!

Most of the dog owners/trainers/handlers were also dressed up in costume with their fur-kids.

Here is Charlie Brown with the WWI flying ace (aka Snoopy).

Also, check out that majestic sploot.  Most bullies love to sploot like this, and our Bea is no exception.

The theme of this pair was "French Kiss," and they were handing out little tricolores.

The pupper seems to be loving this (no sarcasm - bullies are generally game for anything).

One of the best parts of Silverwood is everyone really does want you to pet their dog.

You ask if you can, and they're like YES, PLEASE INTERACT WITH HIM/HER.

And when you finish and say thank you, they go, NO, THANK YOU!

All the babies are so sweet, too, and well trained (for bullies, anyway).

This lovely girl, also shown at the top of the blog, was 10 years old,

so we know what our little Bea is going to look like in another 8 years.

When I turned around and saw this big fella, I screamed, "OMG!  IT'S THE ROCK!"

His person (one of the folks from the Bull Terrier Rescue Mission) went, "hang on!" and whipped out this wig.

The resemblance is seriously uncanny

Eventually, all the milling around got a bit more organized, and the parade started:

This was an Alice in Wonderland themed group...

...complete with the White Rabbit...

...a Cheshire Cat and Alice.

When a bully doesn't want to do something, including walking, there's no reasoning with them.

Alice, will you walk in the parade?

Okay, then.

There were a few Target themed entries (Bullseye, the Target dog, is a white bully):

The shopping cart!

These two are Sandy and Danny from Grease

A turkey!

This group really had their stuff together - there were several of them (handlers and dogs), and they were all themed as characters in last summer's Barbie movie.  First, a few videos - I think the very end of the second one is my favorite, when Dr. Barbie just stops for a few seconds, very obviously considering the choices she's made in her life that led her to this:

And some still photos:

Very Spuds MacKenzie, non?

In upcoming blog entries, our weekend of bully madness continues, including the actual show itself, hanging out with awesome family members, as well as eating and drinking way too many good things!

Later!

Amy